The Paths of Two Warriors
by kevlan3001
Summary: When Senna reappears, Hollows start appearing from out of nowhere. For some mysterious reason, every single Hollow seems to want to bring Senna somewhere ... but where? And most importantly, why?    Bount Arc didn't happen
1. Chapter 1

**This will be the only time I do this, as I don't really like these things on the top. I do not own Bleach or anything to do with it. This is my first story, so I expect flames/construtive critism. Don't hold back.**

**Better Summary: When Senna returns, Hollows are attracted to Senna because she used to hold the memories of many souls, which would be the equivelent of eating many souls. As more Hollows try to devour Senna soul, the Hollows get tougher and tougher. Eventually, tough enough for Ichigo. How will he be able to still defend Senna?**

ONE

_BBRRIIIIIIIIIIINNG!_ The bell sounded, ending the day. It also meant that summer break started. A crowd of students burst from their classrooms, yelling in excitement for what awaited them; about 3 months of freedom, of no school. Ichigo, however, didn't not nearly as happy as the other people when he felt the red ribbon in his pocket.

"Hey, Ichigo! Stop being to somber and try to be happy for once! It's summer! You should smile more, Ichigo!" Keigo said, dancing around him until Ichigo held out his arm, causing Keigo to crash into it. "Oowwww…"

"Well, that's what you get for trying to cheer up Ichigo," Rukia told Keigo, laughing. "Seriously, Ichigo. You should at least try to look happy." Ichigo just gripped the ribbon tighter. "Oh wait, I forgot something. Wait for me outside the doors, Ichigo!" And with that, Rukia ran to her locker.

After a minute or so, Rukia went outside, looking for Ichigo. After she saw him, she looked at his depressed face.

_Ichigo and Senna are standing above the lake connecting to The Valley of Screams to the World of the Living. Senna grips Ichigo. "Ichigo, I'm scared,"_

_Senna says shakily. Ichigo turns to look at her, "Senna…" _

"_I won't do it. I just can't. I can't allow it. Not when this is such a wonderful world with so many beautiful people living in it. Not where you live, Ichigo…" "I can't let that happen!" Senna releases Ichigo. "It's OK. The Blanks are still near me, and I'm not afraid of them now. If I return their memories to them, they'll be at peace, and the barrier between the two worlds will be strong again." Senna holds out her arms. _

"_But Senna…" _

"_If the world where destroyed, there would be no more Ichigo." Senna smiles at Ichigo, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I can't imagine a world without you…" She closes her arms again, letting the Blanks take their memories back. _

"_Stop! You can't do this!" Senna starts crying, unable to hold in the tears in her eyes anymore._

"_No, Ichigo! I can never allow you to die instead of me!" The Blanks start to surround her, taking all of her memories from her._

"_No Senna…" Ichigo runs for Senna. "Senna!"_

"Hey Ichigo, is something wrong?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo was pulled out of his only memory of Senna, and how he felt about her then. He forgot stuff about her every day, but he never lost that memory. He was still desperately hanging on to that one. "What? Oh no. It's nothing."

Rukia was still staring at him in disbelief. "Ok, if you say so. You can tell me anything, you know that, right? I hate to left hanging on before I have to go to the Soul Society and report again!"

Ichigo nodded and said, "No seriously, I'm fine. Now let's get back home; it's way too hot out here. Race you back!"

Rukia grinned, thankful Ichigo didn't look so unhappy now. "You are so going to lose." Rukia sprinted out of the school gates, closely followed by Ichigo.

As Ichigo burst through the door, followed closely by Rukia, he instinctively ducked as he heard "WEELCOME HOME, IIIICHIGO!" His dad flew right over him, and almost hit Rukia in the face if she didn't sidestep the flying kick in time. Ichigo's dad crashed on the ground and writhed.

"Idiot! Is that how you welcome home your own son? By trying to kill him?" Ichigo yelled at his dad.

"Well…" Ichigo and his dad started yelling at each other as Rukia slipped into the house and greeted Karin and Yuzu.

"Well, I'll be upstairs waiting for Ichigo," She told Ichigo's sister above the yelling. They nodded. As she headed up, Karin and Yuzu sighed and went outside to try to break the fight.

When Ichigo finally got into his room, Rukia was preparing for her trip back into the Soul Society. She packed a few interesting things she found into a backpack. When she saw Ichigo, she said, "Why do you always fight your dad?"

Before he could answer, Rukia's Soul Pager and Ichigo's Combat Pass started to beep. Ichigo was about to use the combat pass on himself when he saw Rukia's scowl. He groaned and pulled open the drawer containing Kon and got the Soul Candy out of him. He swallowed it and jumped out of his window in his Soul Reaper clothes, followed closely by Rukia.

When they got back into their own bodies, it was raining. Ichigo spent the rest of the day doing nothing. Right after Rukia left, he noticed something; a familiar swirl of dark purple hair. Ichigo's eyes widened as he jumped outside and tried to follow it, but immediately lost sight of the person. Thinking some more, he ran to Urahara's shop.

After arriving at Urahara's shop, he pulled open the door so hard that while he ran through them, he got caught in the doors and was about to fall but was caught by Youorichi.

"Whoa, what's the big rush?" she asked.

"Nothing. I need to ask Urahara something important," Ichigo said breathlessly.

"Aww, come on. Why are you so eager to leave me?" Youorichi asked, pulling Ichigo closer to her chest. "I find that very rude."

"Youorichi, I'm serious!" Ichigo complained, blushing.

"Relax, Ichigo. You're always so uptight." She pulled him closer to her as Ichigo struggled against her with no prevail. "I know the perfect way to relieve the stress…" She breathed in his ear, pulling him so close that they were completely pressed together.

"Youorichi!" Ichigo said, blushing furiously as he struggled against her. She grinned and kissed his neck. He shivered. "What are—"

Just then, Urahara entered the room. "Hey Ichigo! What brings you to my humble shop?" He exclaimed happily, ignoring his current position.

"I have an extremely important question," he said, still struggling against Youorichi, "but I can't ask until you let go…" Youorichi frowned.

"Who, me?" She saw Urahara serious expression and let go of him. Ichigo sighed and backed away from Youorichi. "Aww, you're no fun."

"Actually, I have to ask you something, Youorichi."

She looked at him, interested. "Yeah?"

"Were you outside earlier today?"

"No, I wasn't. Why?"

Ichigo told them what happened and turned to Urahara. "So can you check to everyone with the same shade of hair as Youorichi's?"

"Yeah, but why—" Just then, Ichigo saw the purple hair again.

"Thanks!" He said as he dashed off.

Urahara sighed. "No respect in my abilities." He walked to his "lab".

Meanwhile, Ichigo was chasing the person with the purple hair. "Wait!" He pulled out the red ribbon he found when he was on his way from school to home. "I have your red—" A strong wind forced the red ribbon out of his hands. Remembering she could control wind in a way, he followed the ribbon. After about two minutes of following it, He lost sight of it. "Dammit," He groaned as he trudged back to the shop. When he got back, Urahara was waiting for him.

"Well, there seems to be no one in Karakura town has the same shade of hair as Youorichi. Or orange hair."

He sweat dropped at the mention of the orange hair. "Thanks…wait. How do you know?"

Urahara laughed. "Don't underestimate me. That's all I'll say."

"Fine, I better go now. Bye." Ichigo said, walking back to his house.

On his way home, it stopped raining. He heard a sigh and turned to where the sigh was. He searched all around him, but couldn't find the source. "I'm just imagining things." After that, he constantly felt like he was being watched. After randomly searching any possible hiding spots, he didn't find anyone. He shrugged it off and kept on walking.

As he lay on his bed, Ichigo tried to make sense of what he saw/heard today. _Is it possible…_ Suddenly, the window of his room opened. He got up only to be tackled again in a hug as he heard an a wavering "Ichigo!" He turned his head around and immediately recognized the teary face.

"Senna?"


	2. Chapter 2

**I know I said I wouldn't do this, but I will now.**

**If you don't want to read this...well, yeah. I don't have to answer, right?**

**So, this is the first time I posted 2 chapters! yay (and stuff...)**

**This chapter is sorta weird. So ... yeah.**

* * *

TWO

As the moon shone through Ichigo's window, he saw her face. Dark purple hair, along with orange as bright as his own. "Senna…"

Senna brought her teary face to Ichigo's neck, still crying. "I didn't even remember you exist until I saw you today…"

Ichigo grinned in an attempt to stop Senna from crying. "The Senna I knew was always happy. I didn't know you would _cry_ when…" Ichigo didn't get to finish, as he was hit on the top of his head by Senna. "Ow, what was that—"

"There, happy?" Senna asked, grinning still with some tears in her eyes.

Ichigo grinned too, and asked, "So…how did you get back?"

Senna thought for a moment. "Well…when I disintegrated on your back, I could still feel myself. I don't know how, but I could. I still knew I exist. After finding my body, I sorta…went into it. It was weird."

Senna suddenly sat up on Ichigo's stomach, causing him to grunt in the sudden pain. After thinking for a while, she put her hand on his face and pressed down into his pillow. Ichigo said something muffled, trying to get her hand off of his face. After about 10 seconds, she let go. Ichigo Instinctively got up, knocking Senna down on her back and onto his legs. "What was that for?"

Senna sat back up. "For lying to me about my grave being on that tombstone and not taking me to the Ferris Wheel." **(yay, random emtion/feeling change. thing)**

Ichigo sweat dropped. "I did that so you would be happy. But at least I did keep one promise. We did see each other again, didn't we?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Senna said, voice almost breaking. _Stay strong, Senna._ She thought to herself. **(yay! another change.)**

"I'm tired. Can I sleep on your bed?" Senna asked.

Ichigo's eyes widened. "What? Of course you can't! I mean, my perverted dad and sister…"

"Aww, come on. I'll be awake before they are." Senna pleaded.

"You never know when my dad will wake up… you don't mind sleeping in the closet, do you?"

Senna raised her hand, ready to push Ichigo's head into the pillow again when Ichigo raised his hands in defense and said, "Fine! You won't sleep on the closet!" Senna giggled. _Boys…so easy to convince._ "Then how about I sleep there? … Nah, my dad will see Senna and freak out…but if she wakes up before him… but if she doesn't, she'll be attacked by my dad…um…"

"See? No other choice. Come on, one night. Only. It's no big deal, right?"

Ichigo sighed. "Fine. Only tonight … wait, why can't you go back to your own house?"

"Because I don't really have one."

"…"

"I stayed at my friend's house."

"Then why can't you go there?"

"What, in the night? No way."

"I'll accompany you."

"They'll freak out if I randomly appear in their house. Plus, if I wake them up, they'll be annoyed, no matter who it is."

"Well…they'll just be annoyed for a little, won't they?"

"Well, her parents don't like me They'll kick me out right away for waking them up so early." This wasn't true; her friend's parents did like her. But she didn't tell Ichigo. But if Ichigo didn't know, there's no harm in saying it. "Plus, why are you so eager to get rid of me?"

"I'm not. I just don't want…"Ichigo semi-blushed **(A/N: Semi-blush is blush a little)**. "well, we aren't related, so…"

"Well, you can adopt me or something."

"Maybe tomorrow."

"And is the fact that we aren't related the only reason you are eager for me to go?"

"No…well…yeah." Ichigo stuttered.

"It's only one night. Come on, I have no problem, so why should you?"

Ichigo sighed. "Fine. And then tomorrow, you stay in Yuzu's room or something."

Senna grinned to herself. "Oh yeah; don't wake me up unless it's absolutely necessary, because I tend to try to hit anybody who tries to wake me up. I try to get out of that habit, but…"

"OK." Ichigo turned towards the wall and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

Ichigo suddenly woke up. Senna was tugging on right arm. When he lifted his arm to pull it back, it immediately got pulled toward Senna's chest. **（OOCness, I know)**He blushed and tried to, unsuccessfully, pull his arm back. He then turned toward Senna in attempt to get his arm back using his other hand, but right as it got close to Senna, she pulled it towards her, too. Sighing, he started to wake her up when he remembered what she had said about him waking her up.

Then suddenly, she rolled on top of him, still sleeping. Ichigo grunted/groaned and tried to shake her off, but her arms were already around his back. He tried to get her hands off her back, but it proved impossible. Going to the last resort, he shook Senna. "Senna…Senna…" Her head was still on his shoulder, fast asleep. "Senna!" Her eyes opened, her fist making contact with Ichigo's face…hard.

"Ow!" He cried out, hand flying to his nose.

Senna realized that she was on Ichigo, and then blushed deeply before removing herself from him. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry…"Senna whispered to Ichigo.

Ichigo nodded. "It's alright. Just…man, you hit hard." Senna smiled weakly before drifting off to sleep. Ichigo, however, remained awake for as long as possible, trying to avoid events like the events that just happened. Eventually, he fell asleep.

* * *

The next time he woke up, his hand was already pressed against Senna chest. "Seriously, what's with this sleep-doing thing?" He decided to ignore it and try to go back to sleep when she pushed it deeper into her chest, cuddling with it as her head rested on Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo grunted. "Come on…" He whispered to himself. _Is she doing this on purpose? She did say that she was going to hit me if I woke her up…but she did. Maybe it was already a habit, and she used it… nah, why would she do that?_ He tried to slide his arm off her, but it she gripped it tighter. Sighing, he tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

The first thing he noticed is that it was sort of bright. He also noticed that Senna was now completely on top of him (still wearing her clothes, thank god. Ichigo, however, still had his shirt next to him). He tried to dump her off, but she was gripping his neck too tightly. When he tried to pry her fingers off, he nearly choked. Noticing he had no other choice, he woke up Senna, not looking forward to being hit in the face again.

"Senna!" He almost yelled **(A/N: almost yelling is talking very loudly, not enough to be yelling)** into her ear. Startled, he hit him in the head super hard, making him sit up very quickly, knocking Senna off of him.

While rubbing his head, he said "What was that?"

"…" Senna blushed at the prospect of him being shirtless. "Uh… um… wait. What?"

"Never mind." He stood up, but then noticed Senna's blush. She immediately turned her expression emotionless, but Ichigo still saw it. He pretened he didn't notice and reached to get his shirt, still on the bed. "So—"

"Shut up!"

"What? I wasn't going to say anything." He grinned even more, causing Senna to scowl. "You better get out of here be—" before he could finish, his dad came flying into his room from his window, yelling "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOORNING ICHI—" He crashed onto the floor next to Ichigo's bed. He saw Senna and grinned. "Well don—" Ichigo punched him in the face, causing him to fly back into the closet door.

"That perverted idiot. Now you better get out of here before he gets up again."

"Aww, come on. Do you not like me that much?"

"No, it's just—"

"Take me to the Ferris Wheel. Please?" Ichigo made the mistake at looking at her big, pleading eyes.

"Fine. I'm doing this just to get out of here. Nothing else."

"So… you're saying that you would go with me for another reason?" Senna asked, giggling.

"No…but, I mean…" Ichigo thought for a while. "Never mind."

Senna giggled again. "Ok, let's go!" She said, pulling Ichigo by the arm out of the house.

On his way out of his room, he noticed his father getting up and stepped on his face again for good measure.

* * *

**Yep.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the false alert. I found a mistake in my last chapter, and maybe you did, too. I left in something I thought of adding. I'm still gonna update today, though.**

**So yeah. Sorry I haven't uploaded in 387190382 months (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about because you read the last chapter yesterday or something, trust me. 2 years or more). **

**I changed this story to T because I figured I won't have any lemons in this story. If it really becomes a big request, I'll add another story for it.**

**Also, stars are the new lines, in terms of representing the passage of time. I don't know how to edit this on Fanfic now, and I don't know where it is on Word.**

**So without further ado, here is *drumroll* CHAPTER 3!**

***silent crowd***

THREE

"C'mon Ichigo, you're sooo slow!" Senna turned around, running in place a little, then got impatient after a few seconds and ran a little more. After running for a little more, she stopped again, and repeated her actions.

Ichigo sighed. It was good to have the hyper, slightly crazy girl back. He quickened his pace a bit, but that resulted in Senna thinking he was chasing him, so she picked up her pace. _Crazy girl_ Ichigo thought as he ran up to Senna.

Senna looked back, but Ichigo wasn't in sight. _Where is he?_ Right then, Ichigo grabbed Senna and slung her over his shoulder. "Pervert!" Senna yelled as she pounded his back with her small fists. She saw Ichigo roll his eyes. It was good to be back.

When she gave the Blanks their memories back, her consciousness sank into blackness, but not before noticing Ichigo picked her up, with dark, downturned eyes. When she regained consciousness, she was slunk over Ichigo's shoulder. "Can you take me to the graveyard?" Senna requested quietly, but Ichigo heard. He nodded. This time, she was able to stay awake.

When her limited vision showed her gates with grey stones dotting the slightly swaying grass, she knew they reached the graveyard. After Ichigo stopped, Senna knew they arrived. Not having the strength to turn her head to look at the Ichigo, much less the tomb, she whispered, "Is my name on there?"

Ichigo replied, "Yeah. Clear as day". But Senna knew different; she heard the slight quiver in his voice, the change in atmosphere. But she appreciated the fact that Ichigo tried to make her happy, as the last thing he was able to do before she left the world.

"I knew it. I knew it would be there …" Senna lied, showing no signs that she knew Ichigo was lying as she tried the blackness that was trying to overtake her cloudy mind. _Don't give in … for Ichigo, don't give –_

She opened her eyes again, lying face up in the graveyard. Back then, she didn't have any memories of Ichigo, or anything as the Memory Rosary.

That one day, when she was walking to school, a particularly strong gust of wind blew. Ahead of her, she saw a head of orange hair. _That's strange … _she decided to ignore it as she saw a red ribbon float down into the man's hands. _That ribbon is pretty … and familiar …?_ Pushing that thought aside, she challenged her friends to the school. As she ran past the stranger with orange hair, a thought formed in her mind. _He looks familiar, too._

She pondered it for a while, but gave up some time after.

Then, sometime later, while eating, she saw the stranger with the orange hair again. By that time, she had put a red ribbon in her hair, deciding that she liked the look of the one caught by the orange-head. Then, the memories came back to her. How she first met Ichigo. How she had lots of fun with Ichigo. How she discovered she was the Memory Rosary. How she got captured. And finally, how she gave her life to save Ichigo.

Tears welled in her eyes, but by that time, Ichigo already left. "Is something wrong?" May asked, one of the close friends she made already.

"No, I just … remembered something of my past." This stopped further discussion on the subject, since they knew Senna was sensitive about her almost unknown past.

"Hey, Senna. We're here." Ichigo said, snapping Senna back into reality.

"Yay!" She got off and ran up to the conductor of the Ferris Wheel. "Could we get on, please?"

"You'll need to pay" the conductor said, slightly looking up from his magazine. "Oh, you again"

"Hi! How is your day so far?"

Before the conductor could answer, Ichigo handed him some money. "Here"

"Alright, kids. Get on," the conductor said, getting off his stool, opening the gates. "Brought yourself a boyfriend this time, Senna?"

Senna flushed. "He's not my boyfriend! He's just … a really good friend of mine".

He grinned. "Sure. That's how all relationships start." Ichigo just rolled his eyes and walked by a chuckling conductor. _He's rolling his eyes a lot today. Just the Ichigo I knew _Senna recalled, smiling. She ran up to the car, bounced in the car until Ichigo got on.

"So, I'm that repulsive, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you rejected me being your boyfriend so quickly that –"

"No! It's not like that … it's just …" Senna trailed off, hoping that would end the conversation. Thankfully it did, Ichigo never being the nosy type. He just chuckled at Senna's once again flushed face.

After getting off the Ferris Wheel, Senna dragged Ichigo to the market. Almost literally, too; Senna held onto Ichigo's hand tightly as she ran aimlessly. Ichigo didn't even have the chance to tell her she was going the wrong way. He tried warning her, but Senna apparently didn't hear him, as she made another wrong turn. When she finally stopped, she looked confused and questioned Ichigo, "Wasn't the market here?"

"No. If –"

"Then why didn't you tell me, huh? Was it because you liked touching my hand?"

"You're the one who dragged me – "

"You did, didn't you! Pervert!"

Ichigo looked at Senna, surprised. Then, with a slight smile on his face, he turned around and said, "If you want to go to the market, follow me."

"Did I make you angry? I'm sorry Ichigo, I really am …"

Senna continued to apologize to Ichigo, despite Ichigo's attempts to get her to stop, ensuring her that he's tougher than that. She didn't listen.

When they reached the market, Senna began to drag Ichigo along again. This time, even when they stopped, Senna didn't comment anything about how perverted Ichigo was. That was good, because he was beginning to enjoy her touch, enjoy her laugh, and enjoy just being around her.

But he excused that as him being happy to see her.


	4. Chapter 4

**FIRST YOU DON'T UPDATE IN 2 YEARS, THEN YOU UPDATE IN 2 DAYS? WHAT?**

**I know, lol.**

**Btw, sorry if last chapter's POV thing was confusing. It was Senna's POV after the second set of *s. From then on, it was Ichigo's POV. It's noticeable because Ichigo's thoughts are present in most of the story. I'll probably add the changes in POV next time I do that, although you can mostly tell by who's thinking what.**

**It'll still be in 3rd person, though, because I feel it awkward to change to 1st person in the middle of the story. Well, not middle, but still: it's bad writing, too. I think.**

**Anyways, here's chapter 4!**

**Note: I know I promised in the last chapter that I would upload yesterday DX. It was getting late, and my mom was practically dragging me upstairs, so I had to go. I only had a few more words, though, so that counts for something, right?**

FOUR

They stayed at the market for some time, mostly playing hide-and-seek. It became harder to find her, though, as more and more people started appearing. Most people stared at Ichigo as he ran by trying once again, to find Senna. Ichigo didn't mind though; for some strange reason, he was having fun.

He was actually sort of glad Senna insisted so much on forcing him to close his eyes for ten seconds. He didn't actually close his eyes for ten seconds. Instead, he only counted to three. But it didn't matter; Senna already disappeared.

After about an hour, his watched beeped. It was 9:00 already. After finding Senna and telling her that they need to get back (Senna pouting slightly before agreeing to go), they walked back.

On the way back, Ichigo preemptively picked up a rock. A rather large rock.

* * *

"HOW WAS YOUR DATE, ICHIG—"a rock appeared on his face. A large rock.

Ichigo sighed. "It wasn't a date, dad." Yuzu stepped out of the kitchen with an apron on. "Oh, hey Yuzu"

"Hi Ichigo! How was your little date?" Yuzu asked, smiling sweetly. Senna replied this time.

"It was fun! First, we went on the Ferris Wheel. It was so fun! –"Senna went on, explaining their "date" with great detail, exaggerating every little thing, as both Yuzu and Ichigo's dad stared intently at Senna, nodding occasionally.

Ichigo smiled slightly at Senna's enthusiasm, heading towards the breakfast table. Karin walked down, rubbing her eyes. "Hey, Ichigo. Where were you?"

"Senna wanted to go out. So I showed her around" Karin raised her eyes, but didn't say anything. Fortunately, Yuzu already finished making breakfast. Ichigo and Karin where joined shortly by Yuzu and their dad.

"Hey, Senna. Do you want to eat?"

"No, it's OK."

"No need to be shy here" Ichigo punched his dad before he could say anything. "We have plenty to spare."

"Ever since I woke up again, I rarely got hungry." Ichigo nodded while the rest of his family looked confused.

"Hmm … that's weird. People are usually hungry when they wake up." Yuzu pondered on that thought, slowing putting food into her mouth.

After breakfast, Ichigo announced, "I'm going to a friend's house."

Senna, who was sitting on the sofa, jumped up excitedly. "Ooh, let me go with you!" Ichigo didn't complain as he set off to Urahara's Shop.

* * *

Upon arrival, Ichigo saw Jinta sweeping the ground outside of the Shop, yet again, mumbling that it wasn't his fault that Urahara didn't have a sense of humor. He noticed Ichigo and went back to sweeping. However, he did a double take, looking back up at the orange-eyed girl next to Ichigo. Senna smiled brightly as Jinta rushed inside, yelling "Hey, Urahara o-san!" **(Is that how you say "old man" in Japanese? I haven't watched Bleach in a while … :p)**

Urahara came out of the shop, grumpily rubbing his eyes. "Ok, Jinta. If you shove one more potato up my –"He stopped abruptly, wide-eyed.

He quickly adjusted. "Well, hello there, Senna. So nice to see you again" _How does he remember Senna?_ "In case if you're wondering how I remember Senna, Ichigo, is because right after Senna disappeared, I came back and took a look at my scans of the Restrictive Current. And surprisingly enough, Senna's spiritual pressure appeared. So, with that being said, I trapped my memory of Senna into my mind using something I'm sure you wouldn't understand" Ichigo glared at Urahara, "because I knew that it would be vital to remember her, in case she shows up again. And she has. Now, why would that be …?" Urahara looked up, just in time to see a Garganta open up. "Yep, as expected."

Ichigo, however, took a step back. What was that? **(Remember, the Arrancar Arc didn't happen yet)** A Hollow jumped out of his, roaring. Before Ichigo could react, however, Urahara took out his Zanpakuto and jumped up, meeting the Hollow in mid-air, and slicing it, leaving its remains to scatter onto the ground and disappear.

"What do you mean 'as expected', Urahara?" Ichigo asked, while Senna was hastily trying to recover from her initial shock of the Hollow.

"I mean that Hollows are attracted to Senna because her scent still reeks of many souls. And of course, many is better than one."

"Then why didn't stronger Hollows appear right away?"

"Oh, that one was pretty tough. It blocked my initial swing with its feet, but I released. However, my Benihime usually can rip through many objects. This one took 2 consecutive blasts to take out; and even so, you didn't see any remains. That's because it absorbed all my attacks up until the 2nd one, and it even absorbed most of that one. I was expecting that, though, so that's why you saw it go down so quickly."

Urahara turned his attention to Senna. By this time, Yoruichi Ururu came out as well. "You have suddenly become a very dangerous person, my friend. I will do my best to defend you, and I'm sure Ichigo will too, but I'm not sure what more I can do."

Senna's eyes began to widen, but before she could say anything, Ichigo said in a calming voice, "Don't worry about running away, Senna. I'll protect you. I don't care what it takes; I'll make sure none of these Hollows are able to lay a finger on you." Senna smiled at Ichigo, her eyes thanking him.

* * *

On their way back to Ichigo's house, Senna silently planned a way to escape from Ichigo. She knew that Ichigo was very protective, but she didn't want any harm to be caused to him because of her. Something about Ichigo makes Senna feel warm inside. Like she actually belongs in this world, like she has a reason for her existence. She liked that feeling, but Ichigo doesn't deserve to be hurt because of her.

_I have to plan carefully. I know Ichigo will try and come after me. Then he'll feel bad about himself and blame him. Maybe I'll leave a note, explaining things. Then offer myself to a Hollow? But what if that Hollow hurts Ichigo because it gains power? But I'm no longer the Memory Rosary, so I won't affect it as much. Yeah._

Suddenly, Ichigo's worried eyes filled Senna's vision. "You OK?"

Senna shook those thoughts off. She'll have to plan later. "Yeah," she said, smiling. "Last one home is a rotten egg!" She yelled, sprinting. She looked back, seeing Ichigo smile.

**Sorry, didn't edit/revise this one either. I wrote the rest of this right after I got back from school.** **The last part is in Senna's POV, in case you didn't quite catch that**

**Also, sorry about the false alarms (maybe) on updating this story. I found some problems with tenses (past/present) and changed those.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry I didn't update in such a long time, I got lazy O.O**

**Anyhow, I just realized how bad the last chapter was. But I'm too lazy to fix it; it'll just mean that I have to work harder on the following chapters**

**I know there was a lot of explaining in the last chapter. That had to be done, just so people knew what was going on. More action, on the way!**

FIVE

"Ha! I beat you!" Senna sang as she skipped through the front door of the Kurosaki household. Ichigo followed Senna, relieved that Senna looked much more relaxed. Isshin put his phone in his pocket and turned to Ichigo.

"Did you do anything interesting?" Ichigo's dad wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Luckily, Senna didn't see it, nor did she see Ichigo punch Isshin in the face. Senna was preoccupied with Yuzu, who also noticed Senna and decided to tell Senna all the fun places to go in Karakura Town.

"Where's Karin, by the way?"

"Oh, Karin found that white-haired boy again and dragged him here to tell me that they were going to wander around for a bit"_ Wait, white-haired boy? Toshiro … what's he doing here?_

"Hey, Senna! I'm going out for a bit, OK?"

"Ok, wait!" Senna yelled to Ichigo. "Yuzu, can we resume this conversation later?" Yuzu nodded. Senna thanked her, stood up, and ran to Ichigo. "Alright, let's go!" She said, pointing at the door. Ichigo scoffed at Senna's childish behavior and headed towards the city.

As soon as they stopped out of the doorway, a ripping noise pierced the otherwise silent street. Ichigo, recognizing the sound as the sound that was heard before Senna's first Hollow attack, quickly looked around. Remember past events, and the location of the Garganta, he looked up to find what he had been expecting: a Hollow leapt out of the giant tear into the human world.

But something was off with this particular Hollow, though … its mask was cracked.

Ichigo decided to ignore this though, because he had already pressed his combat pass into his chest the moment he noticed the Garganta. Leaping up, Ichigo brought his sword around and swung it. But before it made contact, the Hollow vanished. _It disappeared? Was that Shunpo? Since when have Hollows been able to use Shunpo?_

He stopped and looked around, before remembering the Hollow's intentions. "Senna!" Ichigo shouted, flash stepping towards the ground. A shrill scream was heard, causing Ichigo to panic a little more. Out of the corner of his eye, a figure moved quickly down the street.

"Getsuga … Tensho!" A wave of pure blue energy charged straight at the Hollow. However, what usually would rip any Hollow to shreds just simply annoyed the Hollow.

It turned around and opened its mouth.A red sphere appeared inside of its mouth. _Wait…! That's a—_ the Cero was released, barely giving Ichigo time to jump out of the way. The Cero tore apart the house next to him. Ichigo hit himself in the head for not remembering to deflect it, not block it.

However, before Ichigo could form another coherent though, the Hollow roared and opened its mouth again. Ichigo saw it this time and charged his sword. The Hollow roared once again before releasing its Cero.

"Getsuga TENSHO!" Ichigo swung his sword, leaving the Cero to deal with his Getsuga Tensho as he flash stepped behind the Hollow and sliced its arm, releasing Senna. The Hollow cried out in pain, distracting it from noticing Ichigo grabbing Senna and flash stepping away.

He placing her down lightly on the concrete, he was about to ask her how she was before he noticed that Senna was unconscious. He gritted his teeth and turned to the Hollow, who was recovering.

But not for long. The Hollow suddenly sprung up and disappeared once again. This time, Ichigo anticipated its movements and released a Getsuga Tensho at it. It dodged, reverting its path.

Senna! Infuriated, Ichigo ran over to Senna to intercept the Hollow. As the Hollow appeared in front of him, he swung his sword at the Hollow, but the Hollow easily jumped back.

Ichigo gave it no time; right as the Hollow jumped, he rushed past it, anticipating where it would land.

This time his instinct was correct, because when he swung his sword, a huge gash appeared on the Hollow's back. This Hollow didn't disintegrate, though: it merely roared in agony and turned its head back to fire a Cero.

Ichigo, caught by surprise, lost the split second the Hollow required to charge its Cero noticing that the gash that Ichigo made was recovering already. When he finally noticed the Cero being charged, it was almost too late.

His eyes dilated as he used all his strength to jump. However, the Hollow was too quick: he caught a small piece of Ichigo's big toe.

Ichigo didn't notice this and landed hard on his feet, only to cry out in pain as the injury on his big toe was shoved into the ground. He decided that fighting in the air would be better and leapt, using his other leg to jump into the air.

As soon as this happened, he dived to the left, narrowly dodging another Cero. Despite dodging it, he felt the power behind the Cero. If he hadn't dodged, his toe wouldn't be the only thing missing. _Why are these Hollows so powerful?_

He then remembered why he was in the air and dived down, unwilling to give the Hollow any more chances to injure him. This was just a Hollow, why was it so hard to kill?

"Getsuga … Tensho!" After firing that off, he immediately started charging another one and reappeared behind it.

The Hollow was able to overpower his first Getsuga Tensho with a Cero, but the unsuspecting Hollow was torn in half by the second Getsuga.

Satisfied, he carefully landed on his sole, remembering his injury prevented him from landing lightly. Ichigo rushed to Senna, who was beginning to stir.

"Senna! Are you ok?"

Senna weakly smiled before looking behind Ichigo. Her eyes widened to the size of golf balls. "Ichigo …!"

But Ichigo already noticed it. The Hollow didn't disappear when he cut it in half; the two halves remained intact. In fact, he swore he saw them moving closer together as they slowly fell to the ground.

He twirled around and charged the regenerating Hollow. Reappearing right in front of it, he released his Getsuga Tensho.

Only to have it blocked.

The Hollow looked down at Ichigo; it grew in size by a couple of factors. It seemed to be smiling as it deflected the Getsuga Tensho.

Ichigo, surprised by its strength once again, barely had time to react as he brought his blade to meet his own attack.

When he finally managed to deflect it, the Hollow that was supposed to be in front of him vanished. _Behind me!_ But it was too late; he felt a sharp pain on his back, followed by a breeze of cold air.

Ichigo collapsed onto the ground, the pain on his back overpowering the pain felt as he landed sharply on his feet yet again.

His vision blurred as he saw the Hollow trapped in an ice block, before the ice block broke. Behind it, a white-haired boy in an oversized haori walked to Ichigo.

"Kurosaki … is there a reason you almost died from a lowly Hollow?" He asked coolly. **(Ha! Get it? Cooly? His Zanpakuto? AHAHAHAHAHAHAA … ha ha ha … ha … ha …)**

"Hey, you had to use a sneak attack it to kill it … Toshiro" Then, Ichigo's vision and conscious faded to black. The last thing he saw was Senna getting up, staring wide-eyed in admiration for the 10th Division captain as he started to bend down towards Ichigo.


End file.
